A Simple Question
by SugarRune
Summary: Derek asks Casey a simple question and it throws her whole world off track. What did he ask her? Why is she freaking out so bad? And more importantly, why is she crawling out a window? Dasey!
1. Chapter 1: A Simple Conversation

_AN: Hi guys! I had every intention of sitting down and writing chapter five of Dear Casey but when I started typing, this is what came out instead. As I started it, I was thinking it was going to be a short one shot but it quickly spiraled beyond my control. I think at last count, according to MS Word, it was like sixteen pages long (single spaced). I was going to just post it all as one chapter because that's how I wrote it but I figured it would be easier to read if I broke it up into chapters so that's what I did. No worries, as a special treat since it did take me a while to update Dear Casey, I'm posting the whole thing all at once. I hope you guys like it._

_A litte background info to set up the story: It takes places roughly eleven years into the future. Casey and Derek are around 27years old. They've gotten over their rivalry issues and have fallen into a rather close, comfortable friendship. But being Casey and Derek, bickering and teasing are basically the foundations of that friendship. However, in all the years that have passed, they have never developed a familial bond. Instead, there is this subtle, flirtatious aspect to their interactions with each other that may or may not be subconscious. Anyway, I hope you enjoy my story and please review and let me know what you think!_

**Disclaimer: **Sadly, I do not own Life With Derek

**Chapter One: A Simple Conversation**

Casey stood in front of the full length mirror and stared at her reflection. She forced herself to focus on whether or not her hair was perfect, or if her makeup was just right, or if her dress flowed flawlessly around her. Did the necklace she wore really match the bracelet and earrings? Should she have gone with a different bouquet? Did the beading on the shoes really compliment the beading on her gown? Was her train too long? Did the hairstyle really work with the veil and tiara? (Yes, there really was a tiara despite all the cracks Derek had made and her insistence that said alleged tiara didn't exist.) Concentrating on the nitpicky details of her appearance distracted her, albeit only superficially, from the real worries crossing her mind: _Was Stefan really the right guy for her? Did she really love him? Did she really want to spend the rest of her life with him? _

She let out a labored sigh as she stepped away from the mirror and looked around the room. She'd finally managed to usher out her mother, Lizzie, Marti, Emily, Kendra (amazingly, they'd become great friends since her and Derek had broken up), Elaine (her soon-to-be mother-in-law), the rest of her bridesmaids, the hair-stylist who kept insisting on 'just one last touch-up,' the make-up artist who seemed to think Casey was his very own life-size Barbie (although Casey had to begrudgingly agree as she took one last look at her appearance that the man was a genius), and everyone else who had poked and prodded and pinned things to her and adjusted a hem or had just generally nagged her (although they probably preferred the term 'offered pearls of wisdom') the last five hours.

She realized that now, essentially at the eleventh hour, standing in the dressing room of the elaborately decorated Cathedral, was probably not the best time to be wondering of the rightness of her decision to marry Stefan. Especially since she'd now had twelve months to ponder that decision and the ceremony was scheduled to begin in half an hour. The funny thing was, until just a few days ago she'd never once second-guessed her decision. She'd expected some kind of "cold-feet" but she'd assumed it would have come months ago. Weeks ago even. But not like this. Not so out of left-field. Some doubt, some panic. That, she'd been prepared for. But not this. Not this sense of…sadness? Dread? Discontent? Was that was she felt? Anxiety she was prepared to deal with. But even to her, these feelings she was having seemed odd and out of place.

She walked over to her bouquet and let her finger trace one of the perfect, silky, white, rose buds. And she felt her heart drop. _This just isn't right_, she thought to herself. _And I have exactly thirty minutes to figure it out before I'm expected to march down that aisle and get married._

She let out another frustrated sigh and walked over to the window. Discreetly moving aside the curtain and peeking out at the people milling into the church. They were smiling and obviously excited. _And the thing is, they're excited FOR ME,_ Casey thought peevishly. _Fine, I understand that a little nervousness is to be expected, but for crying out loud I'm supposed to be happy. Right? _

"Right?" she said out loud to the empty room. She let the curtain fall back into place and paced in the middle of the room. "I should be happy right? And the thing is, I was happy…up until a few days ago. What the hell happened?"

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Mom, Liz, I told you guys I just needed a few moments to myself before the ceremony," she called out, not bothering to hide her irritation. _I'll probably have to apologize for that later,_ she thought to herself, glumly.

"It's not Nora…or Lizzie," the voice called back. Her head swiveled towards the door as she instantly recognized the voice.

"Derek now is not the time to try and get in one last 'Wedding Day Barbie' joke," she returned, rolling her eyes. She heard his snicker at her reply through the door.

"Case, seriously, just let me in." She walked to the door but still refused to open it. Instead she swiveled around as best she could in the gown and leaned heavily against it.

"What do you want, Derek?" she asked tiredly.

"I'm not going to talk to you through the door. Just open up."

"No, everybody knows it's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding." She heard him grunt in annoyance and oddly that made her feel better.

"Casey, that doesn't apply. I'm not the groom."

"Are you sure it doesn't extend to disgusting, annoying, jerky step-brothers?"

"I'm sure it does if by 'bride' they actually mean shrieking, irrational, stuck-up, prissy, princess shrew." Casey laughed despite herself and made a show of letting out a belabored sigh of reluctance as she opened the door and let him in.

For a moment they just stood and looked at each other; Derek with his trademark smirk and Casey with a reluctant half-smile. Finally, Derek made the first move.

"Come here, Spacey," he teased as he offered his arms for a hug. Casey easily stepped into the friendly embrace, wrapping her arms around him as she carefully avoided burying her face into his jacket lest she leave traces of her make-up all over him.

"Derek, I'm freaking out," she said in hushed tones as she pulled him further into the room and locked the door behind them. He let out a chuckle at her dramatics as he fell into one of the easy chairs.

"I figured you would be," he replied nonchalantly. "Nice dress by the way."

"No, Derek, I'm serious. And, thanks."

"Looks very expensive. And so does all that jewelry your wearing. Are those diamonds real?" Casey looked down at the necklace around her neck and at the rings and bracelets on her fingers then reached up to feel the drop earring on her ears.

"Yeah probably," she replied distractedly before adding, "but who cares? Did you hear what I said?"

"Yeah, they probably are," Derek replied, effectively ignoring the latter half of her response. "Then again you are marrying Stefan, soccer god. What did the papers call him the other day? The newer, younger, hotter, Beckham?"

"Yeah, I'm seeing a pattern. I can't seem to get away from athletes." Casey's brow furrowed as she pondered that.

"At least you're consistent: Sam, hockey wingman; Max, football captain. There was also that guy Shawn from college, right? Didn't he make it to the Olympic trials for tennis? And now you have Stefan, international soccer super star." Casey sent him a glare but Derek simply smiled.

"Der-rek!"

"What?" He looked at her innocently.

"Can we focus on my problem?" She gave him an irritated look.

"Oh so now you want to talk to me? You didn't even want to let me in when I came here out of my way to offer you my most sincere congratulations and offer my support should you be freaking out like I had a feeling you would be."

Casey quirked an eyebrow.

"Okay, so maybe I wasn't really feeling my role as head usher and decided to duck out in here until the ceremony began. That way, if anybody asked where I was, I could say I was having a sincere heart to heart with my most beloved step-sister."

Casey nodded letting Derek know she accepted that version of the story.

"So," Derek began, leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms behind his neck, "what's this crisis? Tiara not fit right?"

"Shut up, there is _no_ tiara!" Casey automatically replied. Derek gave a pointed look at the tiara affixed atop her head. "Okay, fine, so there is a tiara. Sue me!"

He let out a snicker. Casey crossed her arms and he quickly sobered.

"Okay, fine, seriously, what's the big crisis?"

"I think – I…I…I don't know, I'm having cold feet…or something." Derek almost laughed. She always had to be so dramatic about everything. But the look on her face told him she was serious about this so he held it in.

"I see," he responded. Casey waited for him to continue but when several moments of silence passed, she realized that was all she was getting.

"That's it? 'I see.' That's all you're going to say?" Casey demanded. Derek lowered his arms to the armrests and shrugged as he pulled a face.

"What would you like me to say?" he asked calmly.

"I don't know! Anything more than just, 'I see,'" she huffed.

"Congratulations?" he offered. Casey threw him a look like he'd just spouted a second head.

"What? What do you want from me?" Derek demanded, his voice rising. "What do you want me to say? I'll say it."

"Oooh! You are so infuriating!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up.

"Why are you taking this out on me? You're the one having cold feet." Casey shot him with a withering look.

"Yeah, but this is all your fault!" Derek shot up to his feet at the accusation.

"Have you finally lost your mind? How the hell is this _my_ fault?"

"Because," Casey rebutted. "Because everything was fine until a few days ago when you opened your big mouth."

Derek stared at her dumbly for a moment before responding. "Okay. Do you want to run that one by me again?"

She let out a slow exhale before she launched into her rational for why it was all Derek's fault.

"Do you remember a few night ago when we had that rehearsal dinner?" She looked at Derek and waited for his nod before continuing. "Anyway, afterwards you, me, and the fam went back to the house for 'one last night together as a family under the same roof' or whatever it is my mom called it."

"Yeah I remember," Derek said when she paused.

"Yeah, so later I went down to the kitchen for some cookies and milk but you were already there with the cookies and milk. And that's when you did it. You asked me that stupid question," she finished with a flourish as though the last statement explained everything.

Derek just looked at her so she prodded him.

"Well?" she pressed.

"Case, we talked for like an hour that night. What question are you talking about?"

"What question?" she parroted. "_The_ question. The one that has plagued me since then. The one that is ruining my perfect wedding to my international soccer god!"

Derek's mouth quirked at the end of her tirade.

"I can't believe I just said that," she lamented. "This is so your fault too. I can't believe you got me calling him that."

"Me? I never called him that."

"Yeah you did. Like five minutes ago."

"No. I do believe I used the phrases, 'soccer god' and 'international soccer super star.'"

"Same difference."

"Nope. I'm pretty sure the nuances are quite different."

"Whatever. Anyway, where was I?"

"The question that changed your life."

"Thanks. So yeah, it's all your fault because you asked me that stupid question and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since."

"Casey, your obsessiveness has nothing to do with me."

"Well you shouldn't ask a happily engaged woman that question in the first place. Not when her wedding is just days away. And 'obsessiveness' isn't even a word," she shot back.

"Well if a woman is so happily engaged, I would think no amount of questions would shake that happiness. And are you sure it's not a word?" Derek crinkled his brow as he thought it over.

"Pretty sure. And even if a person was happily engaged, it doesn't mean they're immune to other people purposely implanting doubts just to mess with said happily engaged person."

Derek gave her a blank look. Casey caught it and suddenly made a throwing motion toward him with her arm.

"I'm angry with you and I'm pretending I'm throwing something at you," Casey answered his unasked question.

"Why?" Derek asked like he would a person in the midst of an emotional breakdown why they wanted to head up to the roof.

"Because we're in a church and I don't think you get heaven points for breaking things in a sacred place."

"Ah, it all makes sense now." Casey went on as though Derek hadn't responded.

"And I know you know what I was trying to say earlier so stop looking at me like you don't. I mean, yeah, okay it was all garbled but I know you got my gist."

Derek waited a beat until he was sure she didn't plan on throwing anymore invisible items at him.

"Okay fine. You blame me because I supposedly asked you some inappropriate question the other night. What was it? It couldn't possibly be as bad as you're making it out be. I mean, I didn't ask you to sleep with me or anything did I? Because I'm pretty sure I would have remembered that and zeroed in on that as the issue a lot sooner."

"No, you did not ask me to sleep with you," she ground out.

"Ah, good. Then I wasn't that wasted." Casey made an indecipherable noise in response.

"Did you just growl at me?"

"DER-REK!"

"Sorry," he said contritely. "Do continue."

Casey took in a deep breath and Derek was positive she was trying to prevent herself from yelling.

"You asked, and I quote 'How do you know when it's true love?'" She made an elaborate hand gesture when it took him just a moment longer than she'd like to respond.

"Oh, that's it?" This time she didn't hold back on the yelling.


	2. Chapter 2: A Simple Explanation

_AN: So here's the second part. Like I said, I didn't write it in chapters so it's not really a true "chapter two" but I did try to break it up where I thought there were natural pauses so it'd be easier to read. What do you guys think about it so far? I wanted them to have a playful kind of relationship where they can yell and scream at each other, but you could also easily picture them curling up on the couch and watching TV together. I also wanted to show that while they've gotten older and gotten a little more mature, in the end they haven't changed much. You can see the maturity a little more in Derek but in Casey's defense, it's her wedding, she's stressed out, she's got a BAD case of cold feet and she's looking for someone to blame. And well...Derek's not entirely innocent...which you'll find out later! Anyways, read on and don't forget to let me know what you think!_

**Disclaimer: **Unfortunately I still don't own Life With Derek. But can you imagine what I could do with my very own Derek? (sorry, Casey...)

**Chapter Two: A Simple Explanation**

"'Oh, that's it?' That's all you have to say to me?" Casey screeched.

"Well, from all the hysterics I was expecting something more. Something hard. Something, I don't, maybe something dirty to have you this worked up over it."

"You're making jokes? I'm supposed to be getting married in what? Twenty minutes. I reveal to you that something you asked me has me questioning everything I knew to be true up until a few days ago. Something that has my future happiness, hell, the rest of my life, suddenly uncertain and all you have to say is, 'Oh, that's it?' Oh and as your follow up, you're making jokes!"

Casey started pacing angrily in front of him. He watched as she did the best she could with the fifteen foot train until it started to get all tangled. He assumed she'd stop and untangle it but she didn't and as expected, she tripped.

He caught her before she hit the ground and as he straightened her up and untangled the train for her he told her to relax, that she was overanalyzing it.

"Relax? You expect me to relax. I have like fifteen minutes left before I'm supposed to go up there in front of all those people and marry Stefan and spend the rest of my life with him. And I'm in here freaking out because of a stupid question."

"Case," he said grabbing hold of her shoulders to prevent her from pacing and getting her train tangled again. "It's a simple question."

"A simple question?" she demanded, removing his hands from her. "Would I be like this if it was a simple question?"

"Maybe that's your answer," he quietly.

"What?"

"The question was, 'How do you know when it's true love?' Am I right?"

"Exactly. And I don't know. I mean, how the hell are you supposed to know?"

"Maybe that's your problem."

"Okay, you lost me."

"Maybe it's not true love. Because if it was, you wouldn't be this freaked out wondering if it was." Casey rolled her eyes and snorted.

"And suddenly you're an expert?"

"I never said I was. I'm simply stating the facts."

Casey crossed her arms over her chest. "Enlighten me."

"You don't love him," Derek said matter-of-factly. Casey's eyes narrowed.

"I do too. I love Stefan. I never would have accepted his proposal if I didn't."

"Fine, I stand corrected. You do love him. Hell you might even be a little in love with him, or at least you've convinced yourself that you are." He raised a hand to stop her objection. "Let me finish."

She glared at him but stayed quiet and he continued. "The thing is, you don't want to marry him. You don't really want to spend the rest of your life with him because he's not 'The One' and deep down you know that."

"That's ridiculous," Casey finally said after a minute had passed.

"Is it?" Derek said, taking a step towards her, challenging her. "Or are you still too scared to admit it?"

"Yes, it is ridiculous," she stated, taking a step towards him, accepting his challenge. "He's smart, he's funny, he's successful, he's sweet, and caring. We have the same taste in music. He loves the theater. He cooks for me. He remembers all of my favorite foods, and movies and books. He remembers all of our anniversaries. He listens, really listens to me when I talk. He'd never cheat on me. He'd never purposely hurt me. Every woman in the world would kill to trade places with me right now. And he loves me. He really, really loves me."

She looked up into Derek's chocolate, brown eyes.

"He really loves me," she repeatedly softly.

"So you are still too scared to admit it," Derek said as he took another step towards her, closing the gap between them. He peered down into her face, locking his eyes with hers.

"Admit what?"

"That despite all those wonderful characteristics of the fabulous Stefan Walker, soccer god, you don't want to marry him. And not just because you're obsessing over some silly question I asked you. You were grateful when that little hiccup came along."

"What?" she hissed.

"You heard me. You were grateful to find something to hinder this happy union. You were looking for an excuse. An out. Anything you could find, really, that you could use as an excuse to get out of this wedding without having to deal with the real issue at stake."

"And what would that be?"

"It's the same reason you were always finding something to fight about with Sam. The same reason you always found something to be at odds with Max about. The same reason you spent four years going out with Shawn only to suddenly come to the conclusion that you just didn't have all that much in common."

"I'm still waiting." Her voice was steady but it was all bravado as she felt a tremble at the back of her knee. She was suddenly very aware of his proximity and she knew without a doubt that the tone of the conversation had changed abruptly. She was on dangerous ground now but for the life of her, she couldn't move away from him now if she wanted to.

"Are you really going to make me spell it out for you?" he asked, smiling dangerously. "The reason Stefan isn't The One, or Sam, or Max, or Shawn, or any other person who comes along is because no matter how perfect they are –" he paused and replaced both hands on her shoulders before slowly tracing them down to the backs of her elbows as he leaned down and whispered into her left ear. " – or how much you care for them…"

"…in the back of your mind, you always wonder what it would be like…" he whispered into her other ear as his hands continued on their trail down to her hands to trace small circles into her palms.

"…what it could be like…" he continued as he moved his lips to hover just a breath away from hers as his hands moved to her waist, pulling her body closer against his. "And most of all, you wonder what would happen –"

" – if we kissed," she finished as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him towards her as their lips finally met in a sweet, slow, lingering kiss; savoring the moment they'd both stubbornly waited so long for.

Both allowed themselves to be lost in the moment as they tasted, teased, and explored until a noise outside the door broke them out of the spell.

"I'm getting married in like, five minutes," Casey said, breaking the silence first.

"Yes, you are," Derek replied hoarsely as he stepped back and helped Casey straighten out her dress before readjusting his own tuxedo.

"What am I supposed to do?" she asked, looking up at him. He reached out and helped her tuck an errant brunette lock back in place.

"That," he replied, giving her a slow half-grin, "you have to figure out on your own."

He took a step back towards the door. "I better go. And in case I didn't say so before, which I probably didn't but meant to, you make for a beautiful bride, Case. Definitely hotter than Wedding Day Barbie."

Casey rolled her eyes, "Shut up." But she smiled despite herself.

He smirked and headed for the door but stopped once his hand reached the doorknob. "Hey, Case?"

"Yeah?"

"It really was a simple question. When it's true love, you just know. No question as to who, or how or why should be needed."

"That's beautiful, Derek. Where'd you hear that?" He turned the knob and started to open the door before he answered.

"Actually…it was from my fortune cookie…from the rehearsal dinner." Derek took a quick peek over his shoulder and when he saw the expression on Casey's face, he knew it was time to get out of there.

"You little –" Casey started but was too angry to continue. She marched over to the first thing she saw, her bridal bouquet and hurled it at Derek. But Derek was too fast and instead it bounced off the back of the door just as it closed shut and landed in a heap.

Just moments later, as Casey was picking the bouquet up and attempting to put the pieces that had fallen back in their places, there was a knock on the door.

"Casey?" the wedding coordinator asked through the door.

"Yes?" Casey replied, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Everything's all set. The last guest has been seated and the doors have all been shut. The rest of the wedding party is in position. The orchestra is prepared to begin. Are you ready?"

"Give me three minutes," Casey blurted out in a panic. "I'm fixing my hair."

"Did you need me to grab the hair stylist?"

"No, that's not necessary."

"Are you sure? Here, just let me in and I'll do it for you."

"No!" Realizing that the 'No' had come out a little more forceful than she'd intended, Casey quickly began explaining. "Umm…a curl came loose and I'm pinning it back up. They can start playing the music and the rest of the wedding party can start walking down the aisle. Just tell them to walk slowly and I'll be right out in three minutes."

"Ummm…okay," said the wedding coordinator. "I'll go let them know we can start. If you need anything, just let me know."

"Will do," Casey called back. As soon as she heard the coordinator's footsteps walk away Casey quickly jammed three more flowers back into the bouquet before she decided it looked full enough and ran to the mirror to straighten her appearance. She was smoothing out the skirt of the gown when she heard the music begin playing and froze.

"What the hell am I doing?" she asked herself, staring at her reflection. "I can't do this. I can't marry Stefan. I am so not a Mrs. Walker. I need to get out of here."

She looked wildly around the room, hoping for a solution to her problem to magically appear before her. Her eyes landed on the window. She quickly ran to the table, grabbed her purse then ran back towards the window. She paused long enough to pull out her cell phone. At NASCAR speed she typed a test message and hit send before throwing the thing back into her purse. She then peeked out the window to make sure no one was around to catch her then shoved the curtains aside and flung the window panes open. She tossed her purse out the window first then began to situate herself (a process she swore took so long she was almost ready to just strip down to her underwear) so that she could get out without tangling herself in all the yards of dress she had on. She took one look at how far down she would have to fall before hitting the ground, thanked God the Bridal dressing room was on the first floor at least and then proceeded to hoist herself out the window.


	3. Chapter 3: A Simple Ending

_AN: I ran out of good chapter titles, could you tell? LOL! Anyway, without further ado, there's the exciting conclusion to the story. Okay, maybe it's not all that exciting but hopefully it's still good!_

**Disclaimer: **Nope, still not mine :(

**Chapter Three: A Simple Ending...**

Derek had managed to foist his duties as head usher (a position Stefan had been under the delusion Derek would be glad to have so as to feel important and connected and very much a part of the wedding) on some distant relative of Stefan's. Instead he was sitting in one of the pews reserved for their family and close friends near the front of the church. Marti, Emily, Victoria and Kendra (surprisingly) were all bridesmaids and presumably just waiting at the back of the church for the music to cue the start of the wedding procession. Casey's dad was going to give her away but at the last minute Casey had insisted that Nora give her away as well and so Nora too was at the back of the church waiting. George and Edwin, having dutifully completed their assignments as ushers were next to him absorbed in conversation with some MacDonald relatives in the seats behind them.

The music started up and Derek groaned silently and wondered if he'd actually have to sit through the entire ceremony while Casey actually married someone else. He'd been prepared to do it before the kiss. Sure he'd been a little upset that Casey was getting married but it had honestly not been that big a deal. Yes, he'd been attracted to her. But how could he not? She was beautiful and smart and sexy and fun and nobody knew how to push his buttons like she did. But that's all it had been. An attraction. Or so he thought. He'd seriously believed that most of the reason for their attraction to each other (and yes he knew without a doubt that it ran both ways), the root of the underlying sexual tension between them, the reason they had never been able to fully view each other as siblings was because they both harbored the secret question of "What if?"

And so he'd gone back there, he'd deliberately provoked her to help answer the question for both of them, once and for all. He'd had every intention of kissing her to get the answer. The problem was that he'd expected a completely different answer. He'd honestly thought that the answer to 'What if they kissed?' was well, nothing. They'd get it out of their systems, squelch the curiosity, find out the sexual tension was merely due to all the taboo surrounding their situation and finally move on with their lives. Maybe they'd even finally start seeing each other as brother and sister and not just friends whose parents happened to be married to each other.

What he'd gotten instead was a shock. Kissing Casey had been like nothing he'd ever experienced before in his life. The moment his lips touched hers he knew that she'd _never_ be his sister. Was it _true love_? He wasn't sure yet, but something in him told him that it very well could be. He was amazed that the simple act of kissing her had done something to him. He could feel his body reacting just to the memory of her lips pressed against his.

He was instantly ashamed at his physical reaction. _In church, Derek? _He mentally chastised himself, _In _church_, really?_ He couldn't help it though. He felt his loins vibrating…wait! No, it was his pants that were vibrating. They were _literally_ vibrating. He quickly realized it was his cell phone going off and he reached into his trouser pocket (while silently celebrating that he wasn't a _complete_ heathen, something Casey and his mother would probably frown upon) and pulled out his phone. He flipped it open and his trademark smirk began to play at the corner of his mouth as he read Casey's text:

_I blame u 4 this! U asked me that __damn question, _

_gave me the spiel __about no1 else being 'The One' _

_4 __me becuz of some repressed feelings __4 u and _

_then u kiss me and leave __moments b4 my wedding! _

_I have 3 __min b4 I'm supposed to walk down __that _

_aisle and I'm crawling out __a window. U better _

_be in a car __outside the window or I'll kick __ur _

_ass!_

As he finished, a second text came through:

_PS the doors are locked by __now so u'll have _

_to be creative_

Derek couldn't remember ever moving so fast in his life. One moment he was sitting in his seat watching the first group of what he remembered to be a very large wedding party marching even slower (if that was even possible) than he remembered from the rehearsal; and the next, he was bribing a security guard with cash to let him out one of the side doors on the pretext that he was hung-over and needed to hurl and doing a mad dash towards his car. He drove around to the place he figured would be behind the bridal dressing room and started pulling up around the corner just in time to see a giant ball of white fluff fall, rather inelegantly, out the window. He drove up to the sidewalk in front of the window laughed as the pile of lace, satin, petticoats, and fifteen feet of train accented with beads and topped off with a tiara began to pull itself upright. The pile of white fluff that now vaguely resembled Casey in a wedding gown gathered up her shoes and purse and began to storm towards the car.

"Hey Spacey, looking good. You wouldn't happen to be running out on your own wedding, would you? Need a lift?" He asked as soon as she pulled open the door to his Mercedes. She narrowed her eyes at him as she tossed her bag and shoes into the back.

"I hate you so much. For the past eleven years, you've always found ways to complicate my life," she grumbled as she began folding herself and the many facets of her dress into his car. He simply laughed before asking her, "Where to?"

"I don't know," she snapped. "But we gotta go. Like now."

She looked nervously towards the church as Derek shifted the car back to drive.

"Okay. Anywhere but here coming right up," Derek said as they pulled onto the main road.

They were silent a full five minutes before Casey finally turned towards Derek and said, "A fortune cookie, Derek? Seriously? You couldn't have lied and said you got it off a Hallmark card? Or from some proverb by Confucius?"

"Would you really believe me if I told you I'd been reading Confucius?"

"Okay, point for you," she said begrudgingly. "I still can't believe I just crawled out a window on my wedding day because you kissed me."

"If memory serves, I believe that technically, you kissed me."

"Are you serious? Your lips were right there." She demonstrated the distance with her thumb and pointer finger.

"Ah, but you pulled my head down closing the distance."

"You planned this!" she accused.

"Actually, I only planned on kissing you," Derek conceded.

"So you admit it?"

"I admit to planning the kissing," Derek clarified. "And while I did take advantage of your obsession with the question, the obsession part was your doing. And as for the whole 'Runaway Bride' thing? That, that was all you."

"How can you say that? You kissed me. You just admitted you'd planned it all along."

"Okay, yes, I planned on kissing you. But only because I thought it would finally free us from wondering. I didn't know that –" he searched for the words.

"– there would actually be something there," she finished for him.

"Yeah."

"That's what I was afraid of actually. That we'd finally kiss and after all that dancing around it…there wouldn't be anything," Casey admitted.

"So what? You figured we'd just never find out? That we'd just always wonder about it so there was always the possibility?"

"Yeah, actually. I mean, I know it sounds stupid now but we never talked about it. We never brought it up. I knew it was there and I knew you knew it was there but it was like this secret and we had this unspoken agreement to just never talk about it. And to be honest, until that kiss, I just thought it was like a harmless crush, or something. You know? No big deal, nothing I had to worry about. It was just there. But I guess it's not it's…something else." With that, they lapsed into a comfortable silence while Derek drove on.

"So," Derek said after a while, peering over at Casey. "What happens next?"

Casey didn't answer right away and Derek looked over at her. She seemed to be lost in thought and Derek wondered if maybe he shouldn't have asked that just yet. She had just run out on her wedding and, being Casey, probably had a million thoughts running through her mind. He forced himself to look at the road even while he was secretly afraid she was regretting what she had just done. Suddenly a slow smile spread across her face and she turned her head to look at him. He briefly chanced a glance over and caught her eyes.

"What?" he asked, smiling and turning back towards the road.

"Well, before we got engaged last year I saw this article about me and Stefan on some tabloid. You know how all my past major relationships were with athletes, like we were talking about earlier? It talked about all of them actually, except for Sam. It mentioned Max going to Notre Dame to play football, Shawn and the Olympic trials and then of course Stefan and soccer."

"It left out Sammy? Poor Sam," Derek commented.

"Sam is a surgical intern. I'm sure he'll survive not being mentioned as one of my string of athletic paramours in some tabloid."

"Sorry, do go on," Derek mocked. Casey rolled her eyes but went on anyway.

"So basically it called me some serial athlete dater. It said I was continually trading them in for better models and wouldn't be happy until I married a successful, professional athlete."

"Now that wasn't very nice."

"I know! This was of course right before Stefan signed that huge deal and suddenly became David Beckham. Obviously he was already known enough for me to get in the tabloid but it was nothing like it is now. Anyway, you know he proposed a few weeks after signing the deal and so it made it seem like the article was right…only, I just crawled out a window to avoid marrying him."

"Uh-huh?" Derek prodded, knowing where it was heading.

"And I hopped into some flashy Mercedes."

"Your behavior shocks me. It really does." Derek was openly smiling now.

"Me too," she exaggerated. "But that's not even the most shocking part."

"Do tell."

"The shocking part was who was driving the Mercedes."

"I hear a twist coming," Derek predicted.

"Oh yes. It seems it was driven by none other than the newly appointed team captain of the Rangers. You know, the hockey team?"

"Didn't Gretzky play for them?"

"You may be right," she replied, unable to keep the grin off her face.

"But the new captain you say? I think I know who you're talking about. What was his name again? Something Venturi?" Derek asked, fully committed to their little game.

"Yeah, Derek Venturi, I believe."

"So I guess you're going to end up with a professional athlete after all?"

"I guess so," Casey smiled.

"Then I suppose I have a question to ask you."

"Geez, cuz the last thing I need is you asking me more questions?"

"It's a simple question, promise."

"Hmm…where have I heard this before?" she asked, looking at him skeptically.

"No, really," he insisted. "It's only four words long. It starts with 'Will you' and ends with 'marry me?' But before I decide I want to ask you that I think I'm going to have to pull over and kiss you again."

"Are you?" Casey asked, trying to calm her excitedly beating heart. "And why is that?"

"I need to make sure," Derek said he pulled the car on to the side of the road and shut the engine off.

"Make sure?"

"Yeah, make sure it's true love," he replied. Turning to face her and cupping her cheek with his hand."

"A wise person once told me that true love wasn't something you had to question. If it was true love, then you just knew."

"Then I suppose I know," he said, leaning in closer towards her. "I knew the moment I saw a white ball of fluff fall out a window."

"And I knew the moment you said you got the question from a fortune cookie," she returned, closing the gap between them even more.

"Really? Because I was thinking that wasn't one of my better moments."

"No, it was. It was a classic Derek moment."

"Then I guess I should ask you that question. But I think I already know the answer."

"Are you sure you're going to get the answer you're expecting this time around?"

"I'm pretty sure."

"You know what? I am too." And with that, he leaned in even closer and without any doubt or hesitation, he kissed her.

* * *

_So that's the end! Did you like it? Did you hate it? I know the ending was a little mushy but I really wanted them to have a happy ending. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for sticking it out until the end. If you liked it and haven't read my other story yet, please check it out. It's also definitely one for the Dasey ship and it's called, "Dear Casey." Don't forget to review and let me know what you think!_

_Later!_


End file.
